Bitola in 1913 – Photo gallery from Albert Kahn museum

Intro

In 1909 the millionaire French banker and philanthropist Albert Kahn embarked on an ambitious project to create a color photographic record of, and for, the peoples of the world.

As an idealist and an internationalist, Kahn believed that he could use the new Autochrome process, the world’s first user-friendly, true-colour photographic system, to promote cross-cultural peace and understanding.

Until recently, Kahn’s huge collection of 72,000 Autochromes remained relatively unheard of. Now, a century after he launched his project, this book and the BBC TV series it accompanies are bringing these dazzling pictures to a mass audience for the first time and putting color into what we tend to think of as an entirely monochrome age.

Albert Kahn (1860-1940)

Kahn sent photographers to more than 50 countries(including Macedonia), often at crucial junctures in their history, when age-old cultures were on the brink of being changed forever by war and the march of twentieth-century globalization. They documented in true color the collapse of the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires, the last traditional Celtic villages in Ireland, and the soldiers of the First World War.
In Macedonia were sent the photographers August León and Jean Brin, in 1912-1913 during the Balkan Wars.

The photos in this article are excerpt from the publication: Macedonia in 1913 –
Autochromes from the collection of the Museum Albert Khan / Organizers:
Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Macedonia, Museum of the City of Skopje, Museum Albert Khan, French Cultural Center from Skopje, Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments and National Museum Ohrid, Institute for Protection of Monuments of Culture. Museum and Gallery Bitola, French Alliance from Bitola.

Bitola

Buildings and shops on the former “Sheep market”, near the Deboj hammam and the mosques of Gazi Hajdar and Sungur Chaush, the oldest mosque in the Balkans, built in 1434-35 and destroyed in 1956.

Jewish woman in Bitola dressed in the European clothing with a characteristic hat.

BitolaThe Jewish ghetto of Bitola known as Jaudihanata (the Jewish Quarter), which was located in the current center of the city. The houses made of stone, clay and wood had only one floor.

A shop window of a shop for selling lemonades and other refreshing drinks. It is part of the Bitola market built by Turks and Jews in the 16th century.

Built near the Dragor River, the Old Bazaar and the primary school St. Kiril and Metodij, the church St. Mary belongs to a temple buildings which are common and characteristic of the nineteenth century.